Compleanno in Ferie
9 August 2006
"Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words."
Plautus
Happy birthday to Jackie! Buon Compleanno! Though you'll be on the road headed toward adventures in Trieste (wait, are you SURE you're not going to Treia?) and Slovenia, know that many birthday wishes from all across the globe will still find you. Have a great birthday and a wonderful trip!
love,
Corrie
On Holiday
Well, tomorrow morning we are off to northern Italy--specifically Trieste--and then eventually Slovenia, more of Friuli, and then Trentino for ten days of well-earned
ferie. I am excited, yet swamped with last minute packing and cleaning, as Antonello and I try to consume the contents of the fridge just in case there is a power shortage while we are out and everything rots (yes, this was the explanation Antonello gave--no good trying to convince him to throw things out. Instead, I am making a mega-pasta salad to take with us on the road tomorrow, filled with many 'interesting' ingredients). Antonello is calmly watching television while I run around like a mad woman. Somehow, tomorrow morning he will surely be ready and packed, breezily putting his bags in the car, while I continue to go mad. How is it always like this?
Anyway, nonetheless, we're happy to be getting on the road. I wanted to blog more and at least write about my exciting trip with Cyndi to Rome last week (two days storming the city and eating plenty of Hard Rock Cafe meals!), but it will have to wait until I return. In the meantime, check out some of my
Rome photos on Flickr, and read Cyndi's accounts of our exciting adventure over at
her blog.
Also, some happy birthdays to announce (yes, it's still August and still birthday month): Happy early Birthday (August 10th) to my brother Paul and my sister-in-law Carolyn--I hope you celebrate well and have a wonderful day! I miss you both! Also, happy birthday to my aunt Dolly on the 10th as well: we miss you! Happy birthday to my friend Raffaella (of
Coltorti shop fame) who celebrated her birthday on the 5th: tanti auguri! Finally, happy birthday to our friend Haley who shares the whole August madness birthday too, and also to Cass--happy
early birthday (if we get home in time, I'll post again on the 20th)--miss you tons and am thinking about you a lot!
Okay, lots to do, so I'm signing off for now. na svidenje! (which means "good bye!"--don't ask my to pronounce it, please...)
Superheroes on loan from our friends Luca and Stefania
-Jackie
That Day In Indianapolis...
First Dance
I understand that when you love, you must either, in your reasonings about that love, start from what is highest, from what is more important than happiness or unhappiness, sin or virtue in their accepted meaning, or you must not reason at all -Anton Checkov, "About Love"
I really hoped to write a heart-warming, lovely blog entry about Antonello and me, a long play-by-play account of our religious ceremony back home in Indianapolis one year ago, remembering all of the details like the uncut wedding dvd that Antonello's brother made for us--angles jutting out, moments that seemed so tiny then magnified into the true story, the details becoming larger than the actual event. But this entry isn't going to be that. In fact, I don't know how to do it: I have an empty scrapbook that needs pictures, invitations, speeches from the rehearsal dinner, and left-over bows from the bridal shower presents to round out one of the biggest and most important days of my life.
Who knows what makes it so hard to go back and
write everything out. Taking the time out to do it is the problem, and there is so much to write about--all of us family and friends gathering together for what was more like a destination wedding, a week-long event with parties and canoe trips and late night dinners, yet it all boils down to just one moment, there on the steps before the cathedral altar, reciting my vows in Italian, looking into Antonello's eyes, grinning and blushing. I can put myself right back there, my feet achy from those high-heeled shoes but knowing that it's all worth it as my already-husband makes a promise, in English, to God and the church that he takes me as his bride.
And with a kiss, it's over. We hurry out, shake people's hands, share hugs, have penne pasta thrown all over us like a wedding somehow trapped between Italy and America, go through the reception, listen to speeches, dance with friends and family. A wonderful, filled-to-the-brim day, never to be repeated.
Antonello and I loved our state-side wedding, and we're learning how to celebrate all of these anniversaries. It's becoming normal--two weddings, one that happened a year and a few months before the other, both celebrated like they are the real day, the real thing. Because they both were, isn't that so? And honestly, why can't you honor and celebrate all of those moments of being married, being pronounced husband and wife,
moglie e marito, either
in front of the Italian city hall, or at the steps of your hometown church's altar?
And so a year has passed, the scrapbook ideas are coming, and sooner or later I'll get started on writing out every detail, each dance, each meal we ate in that week-long celebration. But most importantly, I'll always recall that moment, with the light above us almost golden, the priest fumbling in Italian yet getting it right nonetheless, proving to us that love is language-less and intercontinental.
But, of course, we already knew that.
Happy Anniversary to you, amore mio. Sono ancora, e per sempre, innamorata di te.
-Jackie
Nessun Dorma
I have a lot of blog catching up to do in these days: the month of July was crazy, and I spent most of my time commuting back and forth to the beach to teach English at a very weird camp for kids in the nearby town of Porto San Giorgio. Other things happened too that month, and even August, so far, has been pretty busy. With birthdays and packages and a visit to Rome, the month is off to a jump. So there is a lot to blog about, and I hope to make some progress on that (at least post some pictures?) before Antonello and I leave for Nothern Italy and Slovenia on August 9th for an honest-to-goodness VACATION!
But for now, we are off to the Sferisterio, Macerata's Outdoor Opera House (yes, it's opera season here in Macerata) to see Turandot and celebrate the 1st Anniversary of our 2nd wedding. (I hope to post some pictures from that wedding--more specifically our religious ceremony in Indianapolis last August 6th--soon...more blogging to come!) Happy Birthday to Antonello's cousin Daniele, and Happy belated Birthday to our friend Sweety (who's REAL birthday is tomorrow, but she celebrates it on the 1st of August--too confusing to explain)!
Have a wonderful night. I'm off to get ready for an evening at the opera! I'll be humming Nessun Dorma and thinking of you...
-Jackie
